Holiday Blues
by Silverfox1
Summary: Just a nice sweet little story about Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape.


Disclaimer - Guess what: They're all JKR's! I didn't invent anyone! I don't own anyone (except Susan and if you want her take her it's OK)!  
  
A/N - This one is neither funny nor sad. It's totally different from everything you've read from me before. This is just a nice sweet little story about Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. Please R/R.  
  
  
Holiday Blues  
  
  
Severus Snape was obviously having a very bad day. It was about ten minutes into double potions and Gryffindor had already lost fifty points.   
  
Well, those things did happen every once in a while in potions class. Especially when Severus was teaching Harry Potter, though the number of points lost in that short a time was unusual even under those circumstances.  
  
What was even more unusual was that Slytherin had just lost thirty points due to the fact that Gregory Goyle had coughed in class. This was putting the Slytherins into a bit of a tight spot as Gregory had a very bad cold and wasn't likely to be able to keep himself from coughing for two entire hours.  
  
Gregory could have gone to nurse Pomfrey of course and have his cold cured with a single dose of pepperup potion, but he didn't dare ask Severus for permission in the mood he was currently in. He wouldn't get it anyway.  
  
Severus hissed out some more instructions then turned without an explanation to his students, walked into his office and slammed the door shut behind him.  
  
Harry Potter dared to breathe again. The first lesson of the day and they'd already lost fifty points!   
  
"Lets just hope he stays in there until he calms down." he whispered to Ron and Hermione.  
  
"I wonder what's wrong with him." mused Hermione. "Maybe somebody ought to go after him and see if he's all right."  
  
"He's Snape. That's what's wrong with him." declared Ron.  
  
"And if you go after him you'll just loose us another fifty points. ... If we're lucky." warned Harry.  
  
Hermione considered that for a moment, decided that Harry was probably right and returned to her potion.  
  
Harry glanced over at the Slytherins. They seemed to be in shock. Only Draco Malfoy was looking at the office door very thoughtfully.  
  
Harry watched intrigued as Draco bent to retrieve his bag and dug out a small pocket calendar. Draco leaved through it for a while, then returned to staring thoughtfully at the office door. After a while he returned to studying his calendar, but obviously didn't find what he was looking for.  
  
"Does anybody know if there's some kind of holiday coming up?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"Not that I know of."  
  
"No."  
  
"No, why?"  
  
Draco just shook his head, put his calendar away and to everybody's surprise walked right into the potion master's office.  
  
"Fifty points off Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy." was Severus Snape's reaction.  
  
"See?" whispered Harry to Hermione. "If that's what he does to Malfoy I don't want to know what he'd have done to us."  
  
"Yes, Sir." Draco answered meekly and closed the door behind him.  
  
The Slytherins and Gryffindors stared at the door in shock. Was Malfoy completely out of his mind? They expected to hear screams any moment, but everything remained quiet.  
  
Draco walked up to Severus' desk calmly and sat down opposite of the potions master.  
  
"Is there some holiday this week?" he asked once again very softly.  
  
"Holiday? Why would there be a holiday?" Snape asked him in surprise.  
  
"You're behaving as if there was a holiday."  
  
"I'm behaving as if there was a holiday?" Snape repeated.  
  
"Yes, Sir. I've been watching you. You only ever get this angry around Christmas and Halloween and Easter ... So your behaviour indicates that there's a holiday this week. Actually it would normally indicate that there's a holiday today. Tell me what's wrong?"  
  
"So? I don't like all those big parties and 'everybody has to be happy' attitudes. It's ridiculous."  
  
"You don't like to have to be happy. I gathered this much. It's rather easy to tell. But why would you have to be happy today? What's the party occasion?"  
  
"That's none of your business."  
  
"Give me a detention. Why don't you? Give me a detention for caring about you. It's not going to make me stop though. I'm still gonna like you and I'm still gonna keep asking. You're not gonna make me hate you, because I don't want to and not even my father can make me do something when I'm convinced that I don't want to."  
  
"If I do tell you, do you promise to not do anything about it that might embarrass me?"  
  
"I promise."  
  
"All right. Today is my birthday."  
  
"Oh, and that means the teachers are going to throw a big party and you don't want them to."  
  
"No it doesn't. There's not going to be a party."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Severus grinned.  
  
"Because they don't know. I never told them my birthday."  
  
"They don't know? None of them?"  
  
"Well, Albus does, but he knows I don't want them to acknowledge it. He'll just slip me some little gift sometime today when we're alone so nobody sees. He always does."  
  
"But you do!" Draco suddenly realised. "You do want them to acknowledge it."  
  
"No I don't! I hate all that partying and being happy stuff."  
  
"But you still want them to acknowledge it. Don't lie to me. I can see it."  
  
"Well, maybe I do, but I can't have both. Now get back to work, Rascal."  
  
Draco got up and slowly walked to the door.  
  
"And Rascal!"  
  
Draco turned.  
  
"Don't embarrass me."  
  
"I wont." he promised calmly.  
  
Draco walked out of Snape's office as if nothing had happened, but deep inside his mind was running wildly.  
  
Harry watched him return to his table and finish his potion in record time. Then he saw him whisper excitedly to his partner Crabbe. A little while later he turned to Goyle and Zabini who had been working right behind him.   
  
After double potions Draco immediately took off dragging Pansy Parkinson aside.  
  
On his way to the great hall for lunch that day Harry saw Draco Malfoy knock on the door to Filch's office. That was when Harry finally decided that Draco really must have gone mad. Who in his right mind would go to talk to Filch voluntarily.  
  
During lunch Harry watched Draco whispering excitedly with the Slytherin prefects. Then the prefects went around the table whispering excitedly to some other people. Those other people whispered to others once again.  
  
At this point the Gryffindors got very nervous. It seemed the Slytherins were planning something big. I their minds that couldn't be good. The Gryffindors kept looking out for a big Slytherin trap for almost two weeks. Nothing ever happened.  
  
After lunch hardly any Slytherins were seen anywhere except for in lessons where they were unusually quiet but inattentive.  
  
The teachers began to worry. They took to patrolling the halls more frequently watching out for some big Slytherin prank. Nothing ever happened.  
  
The next time the Slytherins were seen after their last classes was during dinner. They ate hastily and left early. Half an hour after the beginning of dinner the Slytherin table was once again empty.  
  
Albus Dumbledore noticed this with growing curiosity. He wondered what the Slytherins were going to do. He never found out.  
  
The Slytherins had once again disappeared without a trace. Even the quiddich team didn't show up for practice that day.  
  
At ten in the evening Severus Snape set out to take on the most difficult task of the day: Sending the Slytherins to bed.  
  
He entered the Slytherin common room through the secret door expecting the usual loud voices and possible sounds of a fight. The common room was completely silent.  
  
It wasn't only silent. It was completely empty. It wasn't only empty. It was clean and in perfect order. Somebody had even polished the fireplace.  
  
Severus Snape walked up into the boy's dormitories. The first years were all asleep and their dorm was as perfectly orderly and clean as the common room. He had never seen anything like this. He went on to check the other dorms. The same situation everywhere.  
  
Severus decided to check the bathrooms. Something he normally never did. The bathrooms were freshly scrubbed and blinkingly clean. Even the towels were hung in perfect order.  
  
He went on to check the girls' dorms. Same situation. Everybody was asleep. Everything was clean and in perfect order down to the towels in the bathrooms.  
  
Severus descended the stairs back down into the common room wondering if this was all some strange dream.  
  
There was a single piece of parchment lying on one of the tables. Snape knew for sure that it hadn't been there before. He walked over and picked it up.  
  
We can be nice kids. Just once a year.  
  
He could recognise Draco's handwriting anywhere.  
  
Slowly Severus folded up the parchment and pocketed it. He walked back up into the boy's dorms and sat down on Draco's bed.  
  
After a few minutes Draco opened one eye. Severus looked down at him. Draco opened the other.  
  
"So? Did I embarrass you?"  
  
"No."  
  
The next day for some mysterious reason every Slytherin found a big piece of cake on their breakfast plate. The pupils from the other houses looked on confused as the Slytherins ate. Why did such things never happen to them?  
  
Albus Dumbledore looked at Severus Snape curiously, but Severus' cold sneer gave nothing away.  



End file.
